Client:

Location:

Program:

Area:

Architect:

Commission:

Urban design study with pre-qualification: 1st Prize. Commissioned for further development

Landscape architects:

Müller Illien Landschaftsarchitekten, Zürich

Traffic planning:

IBV Hüsler AG, Zürich

Sustainability Strategy:

Keoto AG, Zürich

Visualisation:

Rendertaxi, Aachen

City as Laboratory

In the millennium of the city, many companies attempt to market systematic solutions for sustainable urban development. What better way can a locally based but globally active firm represent itself than through a piece of lively city, in which products and services form a natural part of everyday life and can be shown, tested, and improved?

VZug can make this vision a concrete reality, thus rendering the area a publicly accessible laboratory. For VZug, the development of this zone means not only building up a real estate portfolio but also a network of relationships, ideas, and learning opportunities, which can be sustainably increased and cultivated over time. VZug thus becomes part of a greater technology cluster where related companies combine their knowledge.

In this regard, it helps that the VZug sites will be continuously used. Changes of use and intermediate uses will be made possible, and areas can be developed in small stages, resulting in a mosaic of urban components.

The headquarters area connects Industrie- and Baarer streets with a representative public space and completes the urban fabric of Zug. In contrast, inside the area “Im Werk,” living-, working- and community-uses are arranged in a variety of typologies along a dense web of alleys, squares and intimate courtyards. Existing buildings can be used by temporary occupants and start-ups. The “Loop” integrates production spaces, laboratories and offices, connecting them synergistically by a large atrium, and the “Soed” provides affordable spaces for related light industry. Green courtyards complement the network of connected public spaces, creating small “city-oases” and translating high density into spatial diversity.